Your project sounds good in theory, especially if you want to share or access off-site.
However, before you discard your paper copies at some time in the future, there are concerns about "to DVD to preserve them forever." There is no guarantee that the DVDs will remain readable. My recommendation follows that of several consultants: Burn everything to more than one CD/DVD. I go a step farther, I burn to different brands, theory being that if one/some in a set is/are faulty, the odds that others are likely also faulty. (I purchase CDs months apart and from different retailers, different brands, with the hope they they didn't come out of the same batch at the same factory.) Something of which to be aware is that the labels we have so carefully placed on our media for identification have now been found to cause the CD/DVD to start to deteriorate.
Burn to computer media if you want. However, if you want "forever" copies, keep those 3-ring binders in tact. Personally, I wouldn't take apart the magazines to put in a 3-ring binder but rather have file boxes designed for magazines or binders designed for them. The magazine binders are expensive but worth every cent for long-term storage and frequent use.
Databases are an excellent idea. I'm wondering if the publisher already has something available. Personally, I'd use something higher-end than Excel, such as FileMaker (it's much more versatile as it's always been intended to be a database), but then that sort of thing has been my business in the past.
Do remember a wet magazine is far more recoverable than a wet CD/DVD. :-) (Watertight storage boxes for magazines might be in order.)
Just my comments.
Have fun with your project. It will, indeed, be rewarding.
Glenna